Attn USA: Please Don't Shop at PetSmart!

[loyal_tree]

The other day in PetSmart I asked an employee where they get their hamsters from. Initially he shook his head and said he didn't know, so I asked if there was someone else I could talk to to find out. He said then that he thought they came from "Rainbow", and I asked if it was in California (where I am), and he asked another employee who said she thought Arizona, and said they make bird food as well. I thought that was kind of scary.

So I emailed a contact at the CA Hamster Assoc, to ask if she had heard of such a place because I couldn't find anything online about them. It turns out it's called Ranbow World Exotics based in Texas, and PetSmart is their biggest customer. I was then directed to a video on YouTube that I almost wished I hadn't watched. The video was an undercover employee showing horrible, sad, disgusting things that happen at Rainbow World Exotics. I cannot believe the things I saw and can honestly say it changed my life.

This place where the small animals come from, they had gerbils, guinea pigs, birds, chinchillas, ferrets and rabbits, and treat them absolutely unthinkably horrible. Performing surgeries in unsanitary conditions, with dull blades, and not completely anesthetizing the animal, so it felt every cut, then "cleaning up" the stitch with Clorox wipes. Forcing animals to mate, clipping birds nails down past the quick to draw blood for sexing, which is extremely painful. Stomping on an escaped hamster instead of capturing it, and the horrible conditions of the cages and the small, cramped quarters.

After further research I came across http://www.peta.org, and http://www.petsmartcruelty.com, which showed videos of undercover PetSmart employees, and further mistreatment of the animals once they somehow survived Rainbow and made it to the store. Petco isn't much better I was told.

I vowed to tell everyone I know to stop shopping at PetSmart until they stop selling animals. I will never set foot in Petco or Petsmart again unless this madness stops. There are plently of little shops and online retailers that don't sell animals that have the same pet supplies available. Just this week I found a great eBay store with all sorts of hamster supplies for cheaper than PetSmart.

I encourage you to check out the links and think twice before you go to Petsmart. I just want to do my part and bring people out of the dark.

[selkie]

oh my god!!! we had petsmart in UK, same company cos when they were caught their big boss came over from America.

over here whistleblowers told truly awful stories of hamsters being thrown against walls and more (and there was hell of alot more!)

anyway petsmart had to shut down over here cos of the extent of the cruelty the staff in the shops caused.

i actually cant believe petsmart is still around listen to lyal tree its all true